Bisotoun

/ 520 A.D

Overview:

Working Hours:
08:00 - 19:00

Plan Your Visit:
1-2 hrs

The most important feature of Bisotun is an inscription written in three languages, Elamite, Babylonian and Old Persian, and attributed to Darius the Great (550-486 BC). The inscription contains a brief autobiography of Darius I and recounts the events after the death of Cyrus the Great (576-530 BC), before telling the story of the battles he waged from 521 BC to 520 BC against the governors, who rebelled against him, and the story of how he reestablished the Achaemenid Empire.

The 3-meter-high and 5.5-meter-wide Darius relief at the site depicts the Achaemenid king with a bow in one hand standing with his foot on the chest of a figure believed to be Gaumata, a Median magus who usurped the throne and ruled for a year before being defeated by Darius. Two figures holding bows and spears stand to the left of Darius and nine figures with bound hands and ropes around their necks stand to his right, and are believed to represent the nations conquered by the Achaemenid king. The relief initially had eight bound captives and after defeating the Scythians, a ninth figure was added to the scene. Darius's beard, which is a separate stone block attached with iron pins, was also added to the scene at a later date.

There is a Faravahar symbol floating above the heads of the captives in the relief, which appears to be giving blessing to Darius. Faravahar is a winged disk with a male upper body and which has become the definitive symbol of Zoroastrianism.

In one of the lines of the inscription Darius leaves words of advice for generations to come:

“You who shall hereafter see this tablet, which I have written, or these sculptures, do not destroy them, but preserve them so long as you live!”

Bisotun includes several other works belonging to different eras including the ruins of a Sassanid palace, a bridge with Sassanid foundations, Ilkhanid and Safavid Caravansaries and Timurid era clay ovens.

Bisotun includes three other reliefs. The first is the relief of Parthian king Mithridates II (124-88 BC), which has been severely damaged but once had an inscription in Greek above the scene depicting Mithridates and four noblemen. The second relief is the victory of Parthian king Godarz (Gotarzes) II (38-51 CE) over Mithridates II, which showed two horsemen and an angle with an accompanying inscription in Greek. The third is an endowment inscription by Safavid Sheikh Ali Khan Zangeneh (1669-1691).
Farhad Tarash, which means carved by Farhad in the Persian language, is a 180-meter-long and 33-meter-high slab believed to have been prepared for a relief but which was never used.
Bisotun is a registered UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Contacts:

Web Site:
bisotun.ichto.ir

Tell :
+98 83 458 838 14

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Fast facts

About Us

The word Persia gives the image of a magical and mysterious land of far away and long ago, of ancient monuments and beautiful works of art – carpets, tiles, fine ceramics and miniatures. It also reminds us of legendary and tragic love stories and epic poems about great wars. And Persia is indeed a world ancient and contemporary, a bridge between heaven and earth.
We want to show you around. Discover things to do on your next trip to Iran and plan a trip of your lifetime. Yes, it is that easy! This website gives you the tools to plan your trip to Iran: detailed information on destinations; inspiring ideas on what to see and do in each city; where to stay; where to eat; travel guides and let’s say everything you need so you can dream up a trip to Iran.

Patrimonito

This workshop is designed according to the UNESCO World Heritage Education Programme in order to give young people a chance to voice their concerns and to become involved in the protection of our common cultural and natural heritage. It seeks to encourage and enable tomorrow’s decision-makers to participate in heritage conservation and to respond to the continuing threats facing our World Heritage. The idea of involving young people in World Heritage preservation and promotion came as a response to Article 27 of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (World Heritage Convention).
Furthermore, Patrimonito means 'small heritage' in Spanish and the character represents a young heritage guardian. Patrimonito has been widely adopted as the international mascot of the World Heritage Education Programme.
Date: 29th December
Number of trainees: 7
Duration: 3 hours

The workshop of "Patrimonito" was held on 29th of December. Participants arrived around 10:30 and they were welcomed by hot chocolate and Persian cup cakes. After a little introduction by trainers and trainees, the process started by making two groups and letting them choose a name for their group, each group was accompanied by a mentor then each group was given some images of world heritage sites in Iran and some descriptions, each group was asked to match images and descriptions, the mentor was guiding them throughout the activity. All trainees were participating actively and trying to remember their experiences about their travels to these places. When they were done with the activity, the mentors started giving the answers and a brief explanation about each site; mentors were using trainees’ ideas and experiences to complete their tasks.

Shortly after that, the second part started which was a presentation done by two of mentors. The aim of this presentation was to define the value of these world heritage sites and duties of each person as a "Patrimonito", and what happens if there is no "Patrimonito" and nobody cares about our tangible or intangible heritage. In this part trainees started questioning and understanding the whole concept of being a "Patrimonito", they also added their own suggestions on how to protect our heritage and by the end of this part, they were completely aware about their role as a "Patrimonito".
Now it was a best time to have a short break, during the break trainees were introduced to some of intangible heritages as they were served by traditional food and snacks and even they way of serving was according to traditions and everyone had this opportunity to discuss about intangible heritage while enjoying some traditional food and snacks.
When the break was done, everyone was asked to choose a heritage either tangible or intangible and they had to introduce their chosen heritage to a tourist by making a postcard using what they have learnt. They were given all of necessary tools such as color papers, color pencils, glue, scissors, images of heritage and a mentor was with them in order to help them completing the task.

When they were done, they handed out their postcards and with the mentors they sat together and spent a few minutes asking and answering about what they have learnt. Then they were told to say their vows for protecting their heritage and caring about it, the mentor said the vow and the trainees repeated after her and they officially became a "Patrimonito".

The last but the best part was when they were given the certificates, and they were told that since they are aware of the value of the heritage and they know how to protect it, they are chosen as "Patrimonito" and they should continue their mission by introducing the value of heritage to others. They were granted certificates and labels and the workshop of "Patrimonito" was finished by taking some memorial photos.